1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fixture for preparation of single-filament specimens for tensile testing. The fixture can be used in automated testing procedures or it can be used for the preparation of specimens to be tested manually.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tensile testing of materials is time consuming and proper preparation of specimens for such testing is tedious and difficult. Recently, automated tensile testing systems have been developed wherein robots are designed to conduct tensile testing automatically using specimens which have been previously prepared and loaded into the testing machine. Such a system is well adapted for testing materials which use the traditional "dog bone" form of specimens. An automated system is described by R. L. Scott and J. K. Rieke in Advances in Laboratory Automation Robotics 1984 (Boston): pp 151-164 (Sept. 16-18, 1984; c1984 Zymark Corporation, Hopkinton, MA 10748).
Preparation of specimens is especially tedious and difficult in testing fibers and even more so when the tests are to be conducted on single filaments which may be less than one denier in linear density (that is, on the order of 0.0005 inch in diameter). Until the present invention, filament tensile specimens have been made on a one-at-a-time basis with no opportunity to make several specimens from a single length of one filament. ASTM D 3379-75 (Reapproved 1982) describes the generally-used preparation of single filament tensile testing specimens.